How do I join a channel?

Create an IRC account and sign into it. After you’ve signed on, you can use the
Buddies -> Join a Chat menu option on the Buddy List window to join a
channel. In any window, either a conversation or a chat, in which your IRC user
is the sender, you can also use the /join command to connect to a new channel.

Can I hide messages from NickServ, ChanServ, etc. on login?

See the next question.

How do I automatically authenticate or identify on login?

Try the
irchelper
plugin from the bitbucket.org/pidgin/purple-plugin-pack/. This plugin provides
fields to enter the services bot’s nickname and your services password. It
also automatically suppresses messages from the services bots sent on
connection. Note that this plugin does, in fact, work with Q on Quakenet,
and networks that use AuthServ, not just networks that use NickServ.

Alternatively, see the next question for a way using Pidgin’s built in features.

How do I authenticate/identify with a buddy pounce or send a message to a user on login?

Follow these steps:

Create (if necessary) and enable your IRC account.

Add the nick of the services bot to your buddy list using Buddies ->
Add Buddy.

Right-click the new buddy and click “Add Buddy Pounce” to create a new
pounce.

Make sure “Signs on” is the only checked box in the “Pounce When Buddy…”
section.

Make sure “Send a message” is checked under “Action”.

Enter the message, such as identify mypassword if you’re trying to
authenticate.

Ensure “Recurring” is checked beneath “Options” or the pounce will only
work once.

Click “Save” to save the pounce.

Note that you do NOT include /msg nickname as part of the message in the pounce.

Can I automatically join channels on login?

Absolutely. In the Buddy List window, select Buddies -> Add Chat. Use this
dialog to add the chat to your buddy list. Once the chat appears in the buddy
list, right-click the chat and select “Auto-Join”. The channel will autojoin
whenever you sign onto your IRC account.

Is it possible to change the username that appears in username@hostname?

How can I set/change my real name?

In the Buddy List window, select Accounts -> your IRC account -> Edit
Account. Click the “Advanced” tab. Enter a name in the Real Name field.

Why does text display incorrectly?

IRC has no comprehension of character sets or encodings. It simply sends
(almost) any random chunk of data a user enters. Pidgin by default assumes
everything is UTF-8. If this is not the case, you will need to edit your account
(in the Buddy List window, select Accounts -> your IRC account -> Edit
Account) and change the Encoding setting on the “Advanced” tab. You will need
to enter the correct encoding for your channels there. You can specify multiple
encodings in a comma-delimited list, such as UTF-8,ISO-8859-15, to cause
Pidgin to attempt multiple encodings. In this case, each encoding is tried in
succession until a successful decode happens or all encodings listed are
exhausted.

How can I hide join/part messages?

In the Buddy List window, select Tools -> Plugins. Find and checkmark
“Join/Part Hiding” and click the “Configure Plugin” button. Configure the
plugin as you like.